President Rodrigo Chaves praised Costa Rica at Summit of the Americas, during his first public participation. The President highlighted the country’s forest coverage, the fight for gender equality, the robustness of its democracy, the fight for human rights, and its efforts to generate clean energies.
This Wednesday, in Los Angeles, a panel discussion led by Pricesmart CEO Sherry Bahrambeygui was held, in which the presidents of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo, and the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, also participated.
“We got rid of the military, which other countries have, to invest in our population. We have a long-standing democracy and, at the same time, we doubled the forest coverage in Costa Rica. Almost 100% of the electricity generation matrix is renewable,” President Chaves mentioned.
He also emphasized his administration’s commitment to gender equality and how the Costa Rican laws have changed to ensure this.
“In my cabinet there is complete equality between the number of men and women. In Costa Rica, by law, we have to have half representation of women in Congress (on the election ballots) and we accept that,” he added.
As part of his administration’s efforts, he highlighted the work being done by his government to eliminate bureaucracy in the country.
“The order to my ministers is that foreign investors should not have bureaucracy, but a red carpet of welcome,” Chaves assured.
One of the most important pillars of the current government is to attract foreign investment and generate more jobs, in order to reactivate Costa Rica’s economy. To do so, the President, since the campaign, pledged to build a more competitive country, which offers all the necessary facilities to those who want to build their business here.
Rodrigo Chaves also praised the strategic alliance that Costa Rica formed with Panama and the Dominican Republic during the administration of Carlos Alvarado. He stated that the Alliance for Development in Democracy (ADD) has the potential to attract business from other parts of the world, especially because the member countries agree on fundamental values.
“I think there is a good proposition. These are three relatively small but extremely important countries which are democratic and respectful of human rights,” said Rodrigo Chaves.
The President also stated that the characteristics of these countries can allow them to strengthen their economies and further develop their competitiveness.
“Together, but individually, we offer a very attractive proposals: skills, rule of law, democracy, human rights. We can produce an economic system where investment and trade can thrive,” he noted.
